There was a thread a while ago about "best solo projects" or some such thing, which I thought was moderately interesting. I'm not looking however for everybody to simply name their favourite project created by a single artist. I've noticed something about artistic endeavours created by a single individual .. they often really do feel like solo efforts in thatt they manifest the neuroses and strange predelections of a single individual. I've been in a band for several years now and I wouldn't exchange that for a thing, but I can see how working on your own can be liberating and cause you to do away with many preconceived notions about what music should sound like in favour of your own, personal quirks and sometimes unorthodox concepts. Though his work is usually referred to as "orthodox black metal", the orthodoxy of Countess lies more in thee ancient-sounding aesthetic of the music than in the sound itself, which, while resembling Hellhammer, Bathory and so on, is full of bizarrely catchy melody and endearing almost childish refrains that mark the work as being the offspring of one man alone (other members never seemed to last long in Countess).. Other traits that manifest are a willingness to jump between different styles of music, often during the same album, because there's nobody around to say, "now wait a minute, we're a so-and-so metal band, we can't put this sort of stuff in our music!" Paul Chain is a perfect example of someone who always creates rather tenebrous music but seems to veer around the sound spectrum depending on what sort of mood he's in. "Quirky" solo projects include Furze, Benighted Leams and Striborg, all of which .. well, put it this way, you only have to hear a single album to draw the conclusion that there's one person responsible for all of this. I think Choronzon on his "Magog-Agog" album is another perfect example .. sounds like the man was kidnapped by satanic artificial intelligences and imprisoned in a garden filled with alien plant-human-machine hybrids for years!

So, what I want I guess are strange musical entities created by a single person that are stamped with an indellible imprint of personality that you simply wouldn't feel coming from a disciplined band working together in harmony. I suspect manyy suggestions will be black metal, and I'm definitely fine with that, but other styles are perhaps even more welcome, as most of the DIY artists I"m aware of in metal play BM. The music doesn't have to be of the highest instrumental calibre but I'd like it to be at least very interesting to listen to. Also,, if the man can play real drums, I'll probably be just a bit more excited about it.

_________________Hush! and harkTo the sorrowful cryOf the wind in the dark.Hush and hark, without murmur or sigh,To shoon that tread the lost aeons:To the sound that bids you to die.

I'm sure you've heard Oxiplegatz before, but I must say it really fits the description as far as sounding so personal. It's definitely 'Alf's world' with Oxi and is probably what ATG would have sounded like if it were all up to him.

yes, all of these mentioned so far are undeniably and stridently solo works. I've been thinking lately that I ought to give Arkanum a try again .. it's been many years since I listened to them .. same with Oxiplegatz, really .. I used to have a copy of "Worlds and Worlds" and it was a pretty strange and powerful album with a great deal of variety.

_________________Hush! and harkTo the sorrowful cryOf the wind in the dark.Hush and hark, without murmur or sigh,To shoon that tread the lost aeons:To the sound that bids you to die.

While Jesu isn't technically a solo project, It's close enough to one and it's definitely music that suggests it was written by one person. It's kind of similar to many one man bands in that the arrangements suffer a bit; you can tell Broadrick's strength is in playing and manipulating guitar, and the bass and drums are only adequate (some are programmed; and while it's not always subtle the programming's still fairly good- most Jesu albums are showcases in excellent production), but also that it's a deeply personal thing. It's not surprising that the worst songs are the collaborations he's done with Jarboe- the deep, personal thing just isn't there with someone else singing.

Did someone release a bootleg with two of my releases mashed together? I kid, I kid. Anyway, they're both crap. The new one is good. Anyway, I should probably contribute to this thread legitimately. I think that the Lurker of Chalice album is something that could only have been released by one person, and probably only at that particular time. The only adjective I can think to describe it that isn't reductive is 'singular'. It is so its own beast.

The first thing I thought of when I saw this thread was Probot. Shoot me if you feel it's necessary.

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John_Sunlight wrote:

Gif logos are a rare and special thing. They should be reserved only for truly exceptional and rare and special and important bands, bands like Blind Guardian and... Blind Guardian. This should be in the rules.